sorry but either I am misinformed or others are also (a little of both I suspect)the reason Delores won was due TO the fact that she is a senior. It is being said that she bought 200 of the votes herself - teeenage contestants do not have the option to pay $200 to help win the contest. The bottom line(in my opinion) is this contest was brought back as a fund raiser & to help students raise some money for their futrue college expenses - sorry but this was not done faor & square. If someone knows the real truth behind this please post.

My husband and I agree with “logic1” that Pow Wow Queen originally was awarded to a high school teen working toward a scholarship. We submitted a Letter to the Editor with ideas for next year, which we believe will be up to the Lions Club to implement.

To be more in line with the times, and be semi-politically correct, how about have TWO contests, with different fund-raising goals, and BOTH winners sit together on the Pow Wow Days float? One high school teen as Pow Wow Princess; and one post-high school woman as Pow Wow Queen, who will then mentor the young girls running for Pow Wow Princess the next year. How cool is that? Just a Food for Thought...

Lani Nelson

Last edited by WorldServer on Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Though misquoted by Brenda Deavers of Milwaukee, there was no disgrace to this year’s winner. We think Delores Martens’ fund-raising skills, and subsequent donation, are to be commended! She could be a great mentor and inspiration to the girls running next year.

Let's bring back the days of apprenticeship, or rites of passage, when an elder or mentor would groom young girls into the community. How do girls mature and learn skills and social graces into today's business world, but by their family, experienced teachers, and elder mentors?

There is room for only one grammar/spelling nazi on the message board! Maybe some of us need to be very professional in our daily writings. A forum such as this is a good way to let our hair down. LOL, BTW!

A Disgrace to Tomahawk for allowing an 81-year-old female to enter the Pow-Wow Queen contest for the 4th of July? Where do you get the gall to judge such a perfect lady in every way, to represent her town in a fun activity and help her many, many friends at the same time? As there were no age requirements, she was urged, even begged, by the huge majority of elder citizens in our fair town to enter. My goodness, at what age are we expected to sit back and stop having fun?

The Senior Center is a godsend to our community but it is not just a place to have a great meal, chat a while and go home for a nap. Many learning programs are offered by the County Extension as well as bus trips for shopping and special events around the area. These things cost money too and contrary to some uninformed people, senior citizens don’t have money to burn. Our Queen, Dolores, worked very hard garnering votes for her Title of Pow-Wow Queen. She donated every penny of her “scholarship” to the Senior Center.

It is an insult to have you or any other close-minded citizen to believe that Dolores kept some deserving young maiden from getting a scholarship. Why didn’t she, or they, work a little harder at selling tickets? Thank God for the Lions counting committee, they were honest. The money raised by the tremendous amount of votes helped in their endeavors too.

Here’s to next year’s Pow-Wow Queen, may she be treated with the dignity she deserves.

In response to the unkind and disrespectful letter in last week’s Leader regarding the crowning of Pow Wow Queen, 81-year-old Dolores Martens. To use some of your words, I and many others, find it ‘disgraceful’ that someone would actually fault a contest that allowed an ‘elder’ to enter and the fact that she won, let alone share that narrow perspective publicly.

Obviously it would be nice if all contestants could win but that’s not the way contests work – someone wins and some lose. In addition, because someone is an ‘elder’ doesn’t mean they don’t deserve honor and recognition – in fact, someone like Dolores has really earned it and her shining hour should not be disparaged.From another ‘elder’,

Re: Pow Wow Queen. I strongly believe that anyone that can call a beautiful lady that is 81 years old a disgrace apparently does not think they will ever become a senior themselves. I was very excited to hear that this lovely lady won this challenge and our young people should learn a lesson from her hard work and dedication she showed. The young need to get out there and do more like she did to win. Congrats to the queen you are not a disgrace, but an inspiration to all. She donated her winnings to a very good cause and should be commended not criticized.

Congratulations to the Tomahawk Lions for another outstanding Fourth of July celebration and the resurrection of the Pow Wow Days queen contest. I’m surprised and disappointed by the (hopefully few) negative response to the appointment of Dolores Martens as Pow Wow Days queen. Mrs. Martens followed the rules of the content as well as its spirit – raising money and awareness for a local community organization. The criticism she has received for doing so is ridiculous. No other contestant worked as hard as she did to raise awareness for her cause and for the queen contest. Her energy and her focus on her community should be celebrated – especially considering she’s an octogenarian. As for the perceived or real disappointment the teenage contestants had in losing out to Mrs. Martens, they may have lost out on scholarship money but they did learn a valuable life lesson – how to be a gracious loser, and decide what you would do differently the next time to achieve a different outcome.

Whenever I bring new people to Tomahawk, I brag about the generous nature of the community, pointing out SARA Park, the river trail by the library and the numerous ways this community donates its time and money to help each other. That’s what should be celebrated here: the Lions and other volunteers who are generous of mind and spirit, having fun as they give their time to create a fun Fourth of July for their neighbors. I hope the Pow Wow Days queen contest will continue in 2010 with an open age competition, and heck, if it’s really about scholarship money for young people, let the guys enter too!

To anyone who may have misunderstood my comments, I apologize and hope that you can forgive me. My intentions were good at heart and were meant to support the teens. I was basically voicing my opinion on this renewed contest. I had a lot of mixed feelings and I should have taken more time to rationalize my thoughts.

Having grown up in Tomahawk, as a kid, I have many fond memories of the 4th of July. When the Pow Wow Queen contest came back this year, I was very excited, but was clueless that the contest rules had changed. I thought it was for teenage girls, like it used to be.

We truly hope that the Pow Wow Queen contest will return next year, with even more contestants of all ages. Food for Thought: Maybe have two winners on that float. One Pow Wow Queen: a woman out of high school, with experience in the business world and community, as a mentor; and one Pow Wow Princess: a high school girl, new to learning about business and community involvement.

I really enjoy our yearly trips to Tomahawk to visit our friends! I also enjoy reading the news from Tomahawk on-line via the Tomahawk Leader. I am also looking forward to my visit to Tomahawk to see Elvis Tribute Artist Art Kistler (Forever Elvis) next month. I have been following the Message Board messages on the controversy surrounding the Pow Wow Queen winner Dolores. With all of the rumors going back and forth as to who sold tickets and who bought tickets, wouldn't it be for the best to interview the person who ran the raffle from the Lions Club to explain once and forever the ticket controversy! Who tracked the tickets and could someone really purchase 200 tickets themselves just to get a jump on the competition. How many tickets were originally printed and how many were actually sold? Time to move on, get to the bottom of this and enjoy the summer! If the Lions Club ran the Pow Wow Queen raffle, ask them to provide the answers. Rumors and hearsay comments are just hurtful without knowing the true facts.

Wow! Did this thread ever wander. I guess when you head a topic "Pow Wow Days", I should have expected the band comments and the Queen controversy. But, the "Grammer Cop/Nazi stuff caught me by surprise.

Back to one of my original topics, I heard a rumor that the Lions are going to move the after-parade festivities back downtown next year. Just wondering if anyone could confirm what I consider great news. Put the band they had at Sara Park somewhere on Main Street and let everyone enjoy the rest of the day. Now if the Street Dance Committee and the Kwahamot's would adjust their schedules so it would be possible to attend both of those great events, my Pow Wow Days wish list will be complete.

Since Lani has edited her post of 7/19, deleting the portion in which she takes the TLMB members "to task" for poor grammar and spelling, no one now reading this thread will have a clue as to what I was talking about. As a result, I move that she is made Permanent Grammar/Spelling Czar!!!

By the way Lani, I hope that you realize that this on-line harassment is meant in fun. Nearly all of the participants have their "turn in the barrel". (Catfish is always giving me the berries.) Welcome to the TLMB!!!

It has been very disturbing to see such negative emotions coming out regarding a senior citizen running for a local "queen" race. I have been watching this for weeks now and finally had to join so I could put my two cents in.

Does anyone really beleive that a senior citizen would "BUY" her way to the title? Do you really believe that at 81, winning a Queen title would be worth cheating her way to it?

I have known Mrs. Martens for most of my life. I do not live in WI anymore and only come home every few years for the 4th. This year, was one of my "off" years. I called Dolores, when I heard she was running and she was excited and a bit bewildered by all of the attention, even before winning! I realize now that I am partly at fault for this controversy. I mailed a check to Dolores for $20.00, it was made out to Dolores Martens. I sent a note along telling her that I would like to purchase 20 tickets. If the tickets were already sold out, I asked her to just donate my money to the Senior Center. A few days later I got a card in the mail from Dolores with 20 Gold "Pow Wow Queen" raffle tickets. My numbers were 0031-0040, and 4361-4370. I still have them hanging by my computer. Dolores had told me that people from California, Florida and other states (I do not remember now) had sent her money when they heard about this race. We are the problem. I wrote the check out to Dolores, never intending for it to be a problem. Of course, she had to cash that check and then turn the money in someohow. It would look like she was buying her own tickets. I never thought about that, and I am sure all of the others from out of state never thought about that. I would be happy to send a copy of that check to the Lions' Club if they wanted to look at it.

At the end of the day, this was a great fundraiser. I do hope that what I read about the younger girls being poor losers was a great exaggeration.

A huge THANK YOU to all of you that got on here and spoke up for Mrs. Martens, I mean QUEEN DOLORES MARTENS!